Monday 6-30-14

Monday 6-30-14

                Our last full day here in Berega has come. I was so mixed with emotions today, one minute I would be happy, the next nearly crying. I made the decision that today would be a very good day. I got the kids some breakfast and they ate and watched “All dogs go to heaven”. I called and chatted with Asa on Skype and then got a message from my mom that she couldn’t sleep so I called her also. She was so excited that we are coming home so soon that she kept breaking down into tears. As I was getting ready to get off the Skype with her, Mr. Malanda came over. Logan had told him I may be interested in some of the stones he had. I told him I didn’t have much money, but he ended up giving me a pretty good deal and so I got a few of the stones from him. As he was packing up he gave each of the kids like four stones each because of how excited they were about the stones. It was awesome. Included in those were a few large amethysts. Lastly he gave me a very pretty red stone for my Mama back in America. He heard me telling her I loved her and I would talk to her later. He owns one of the local pubs and was a good friend of Logan’s; just a very nice man.

                Once he left, I jumped in the shower and got myself cleaned up. My ear infection is coming back, so I may need to get some antibiotics from Dr. David. I sent the kids over to Charlene’s to invite them over for some coffee since they only have instant, but they didn’t answer for Ayla and Jove. I had already gotten the water boiling, so I asked the kids if they wanted some hot cocoa, they answered “Can we have some coffee with you?” So I figured why not, and I made theirs more like hot cocoa, but it was still coffee and they were so excited and feeling all big having coffee in the morning with mom. Coffee and chipmunk music; what could be better J

                After we finished with our coffee, we went up to the Monday market. Our first stop was to see Stan to pick up our clothes I had him make. They were beautiful. We said our goodbyes and he let me know that Samweli would come over later on today. The kids and I walked around the market. I got a few tomatoes since the kids have wanted to eat tomatoes as if they were apples. We also picked up an eggplant for dinner (for me, the kids don’t want it), and a mess of suckers for the plane ride.

                On the way home we met up with Farida, Pili, and another girl that I didn’t know. They came home with us and the kids all swung on the swing for a little while. Every few minutes Ayla or Jove would run inside asking for another tomato. I have never seen them eat so many; they must be not getting enough of a vitamin or something. When the girls left, Ayla and Jove came inside to eat their beanie weenies and they watched little bits of different movies. I cleaned up the fort so I could get a grasp on what I still needed to do to clean and pack. Jove decided to go outside and saw his favorite guard. I noticed and started taking pictures. Ayla went outside when I went to check and see what they were talking about. Jove had found a very large crystal-ish rock and was digging up all kinds of smaller ones. Ayla came up and they decided to break apart the bigger stone. The guard decided to help them. He is such a happy man; it is hard to not just want to smile around him. Just before I was getting ready to head back to the house, he called Ayla and Jove over “my friends come”, so that I could take a picture of the three of them together. This is the same guard that was playing with Jove yesterday. I like him; he is by far the best of the bunch of guards that have been keeping an eye on the house.

                I came inside to go through the fridge and freezer and figure out what I could get the kids to eat for dinner. They decided on hotdogs with ketchup and sweet and sour sauce. It worked for me because those things needed to get eaten up also. I had combined some tomatoes, eggplant, onions, and garlic with some leftover cream of potato soup for myself. I spent some time and got nearly all the andazi cut up and made into peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches. I also cut some into quarters and had them covered in the powdered sugar mix so they would be like donut holes. I hope that it is enough for us for tomorrow and for the plane trip. There were 14 nutella sammies, 14 jelly sammies, and maybe 10 cut up into the donut holes. We will feed Abdallah as we should since he is driving us tomorrow. I think we will have plenty. I wish that more kids would have showed up for our dance party on Saturday, but as it turns out it was a good thing because now I will have food for our trip.

                We got many visitors to say goodbye and went over to Ruth and Isaac’s house near 6:00 to say our goodbyes there. I tried to cut the swing down a good three or four times and every time I did, the kids would cry out and run over to swing. It is funny, they don’t play on it much unless I go out there to take it away. I told them they could have ten minutes then no matter what they did, even if they were on the swing, I was climbing the tree to cut it down.

                Samweli finally came. I was so worried he was going to not come today because he was sad. I got a few good pictures of us and a lot of snuggle time in with my buddy. I was very happy I got to see him again.

                Mr. Malanda came to show me some yellow tourmaline. He said he wanted to see if I was interested, but when he told me he wanted 100,000 tsh I told him there was no way I could do that for the 6 stones even though they were very nice. Jove got very sad and started to cry. A half hour later Mr. Malanda came back asking for half of what he originally did. I still told him that I couldn’t do it. Then it went down to 20 then 10,000. I asked him if he was sure and he said that he felt bad that Jove got so sad that he couldn’t get the pretty stones that he really wanted Jove to have them and that he could deal with the almost no money because he was getting some good jobs. The 10,000 tsh works out to be about $7.50 maybe, so I was fine paying that for the few nice stones. They really are very pretty. I think my dad or brother could cut something very nice with those. I thanked Mr. Malanda many times and he asked if he could get a picture with the kids. I was happy to oblige.

                Samweli, Farida, and Joan ended up going home about 8:00 which was when I was normally putting the kids down. I just didn’t want to send them away because I knew this was the last time that they would all be able to play together since we leave so early in the morning. Ayla broke down into tears at quite a few different points during the evening. I felt so bad for her, she has just the worst time dealing with change and she has grown so close to so many of the people here.

                Charlene and Scott stuck around for a little while longer and gave hugs many times also. They told me how grateful they were that I was here and helped them through so much. I told them that they did the same thing for me so we were all good. I have met some amazing people on this trip and I am just so happy that I was given this opportunity.  I have learned so much and as a person I have grown in ways that I never expected. I have had some crazy moments, some ups and downs; looking back I wouldn’t want anything to change, nothing.

                I look forward to being back home with my husband and pets, but I know that this place, these people, will be a part of me for the rest of my life. They have given me so much and I just hope that they feel I have given them something in return. To everyone that I am leaving behind, you will be missed and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for welcoming us so warmly.